11th
Film is the art of light - of vision - of what and how we see. Jacques Audiard opens Un Prophéte through an obstructed view of our protagonist - perhaps a Diving Bell And The Butterfly-esque through-the-eyelids shot, perhaps a close-shot past a number of people. He never answers the question, instead rushing headlong into a dense yet familiar narrative about a street rat French-Arab rising to Godfather heights. Audiard elevates his material with keen observations of French race relations, immigration, Islamic tensions, and the (de-?)evolution of mob culture from the old Italian mafiosos to the gangs of corner kids. If The Godfather found that you cannot escape your heritage, Un Prophéte concludes that the old world can fight for only so long against the inevitable tide of racial and cultural change.
The film gets its title, and thematic heft, from the vision of our main character Malik. Yes, he sees the ghost of the first man he has killed, a man who becomes a martyr for Malik’s survival and rise. And yes, he has a prophetic dream of hitting a deer, again saving his own life. But his real vision comes from understanding his unique place in the criminal hierarchy - French enough to serve as the Corsicans lapdog, learning at their feet, yet Arab enough to command power and respect from the rising class.
Malik starts out an illiterate common ne’er-do-well; he uses the prison system to better himself through the inmate education program and by watching the ruling Corsican, César. All of his power and knowledge comes from observation, seeing how others interact, how power works. He learns that all men, when stripped of the illusion of control, will “think with their balls” (in César’s words), no matter their ethnicity.
As he walks towards us at the end of the film, Malik has the power of sight, the ability to look behind him - at the brute force - and ahead - beyond the screen, at the family and criminal life awaiting - while everyone else (including us the audience) just looks at him.
